Inside Story
by Alexisminas
Summary: Not everything is about Ash Ketchum.
1. A Brief Request

Welcome to my story, dear reader: I hope you enjoy this experience!

I would like to ask you to, instead of reviewing with the usual compliment (though those are always welcome!), point out whatever you think I should change in order to improve the story. This includes, but is not limited to:

\- Punctuation

\- Dialogue

\- Expressions and idioms

\- Verbs

\- Adjectives

\- Names and pronouns

\- Everything I could have done but didn't

\- This freaking header, even!

If I agree with you, the passage shall be changed in the story and you will get a shoutout in the very same chapter, as well as my deepest gratitude.

Anyway, thank you for giving this story a chance. I hope you like it!

* * *

I would like to give a shoutout to:

\- Umbruhon: Thank you, dear reader!


	2. 1 - April

"Absol..."

"No."

" _Absol_..."

"Aggie, I said _no_."

" ** _Abso_** -"

"I swear to freaking _Arceus_ , Agatha, if you keep telling me whatever it is you're trying to say I will return you to your Pokéball - and believe me, I will not let you out until I'm done."

The aforementioned Pokémon proceeded to turn away and sulk near the door.

April sighed. She didn't mean to make her Absol mad, but Aggie was really getting on her nerves. Arceus knew she was nervous enough as it was: becoming a trainer was no small thing.

She sunk further into her beanbag; her laptop lay idle in her legs, forgotten. What if she had to give up like last time?

April bit her lip, filled to the brim with anxiety. She wasn't sure she could handle disappointing Dad again. Mom wouldn't mind much, and she was sure Grandma and Grandpa would support her no matter what - but _Dad?_ Definitely not. He only wanted the best for her, she knew, but still...it was nerve-wracking.

How a man could make her feel so guilty from miles away was beyond her.

April stared across the room, where her suitcase sat - fully packed. Right next to it was her own Pokémon's travel bag, filled with Pokémon food, as well as various assortments of Pokéballs from Mom and a whole collection of TM's from...Dad...

She felt a familiar pressure on her legs and realized Agatha had moved from the door and was now staring at her. She wondered when that had happened and worried, not for the first time, whether she was developing some kind of subjective amnesia. She raised a hand to stroke her friend:

"Sorry, girl. I was getting weird again, wasn't I? I'm fine, now."

She expressed her disbelief with a snort.

"I am!" April protested.

Agatha had the nerve to roll her eyes. April opened her mouth to deny all, once more, when the Absol decided to lick her face. If April was honest with herself, she'd admit how gross it was, but currently she was too absorbed in the sweetness of it all to notice.

"Thank you."

* * *

"April! Are you done?"

"I'm coming, Mom!"

April looked back at her old room, taking it all in. She probably (hopefully?) wouldn't be seeing it for a long time.

She'd been through so much in this room: pillow-fights, "Just Dance" failed choreographies, that one awkward crush...

...actually, that was pretty much it.

No! Wait, no - how could she forget _Aggie?_

Just thinking about that day made her tummy feel fuzzy with happiness. She'd been so surprised she couldn't keep her hands off her mouth, though her Pokémon quickly fixed that problem: it was hard to have your hands on your lips with a fifty-kilo Dark-type smashing your ribcage. She'd laughed through the pain, for some dumb reason.

She still remembered how long she'd taken to stick with a name. She cringed at the memory of the prototypes. 'Lala' she mused. 'What was I _thinking_?'

Her current Pokémon whined, bringing her back to the present.

April raised her hands in self-defense, smiling nervously. "I'm good!"

Agatha looked her over, assessing the situation and, satisfied, went downstairs on her own. April spared one last glance to her room and followed.


	3. 2 - Aggie

Agatha trotted merrily next to her girl, careful not to walk too far ahead. April liked to think she was the fastest out of the two of them, but she had another thing coming if she thought she could best her Absol in a race. Not that she'd tell her that - her girl would be miserable (not to mention insufferable) in her useless efforts to surpass her.

 _No_ , she thought as she looked at her girl, _it would be best if April doesn't know she's the human equivalent of a Blastoise_.

Speaking of pokémon, Aggie and her peltless friend would be getting a new travel companion! She didn't much enjoy the idea of having to share April with another 'mon, but she supposed it couldn't hurt to have a backup to protect her friend if she wasn't there for some reason or another.

 _It_ _would_ _be nice not to be the only one stressing out over my girl tripping over her own feet..._

Speaking of which -

"Watch out!"

" _Fuck!_ "

And down she went. Who knew going from Petalburg to Littleroot would be this much of a hassle?

Well, she did. Obviously. Her girl just hadn't gotten the memo yet, though she doubted it would do much good considered this was, you know, _April_.

Agatha actually used to wonder if her disaster sense was faulty, before realizing her girl was just unlucky. Really, _really_ unlucky. Honestly, it was a wonder April hadn't killed herself yet. Who knew what she'd do if that ever happened in her lifetime. Probably something bold...and stupid.

Mostly stupid.

Agatha shoved those cryptic thoughts to the back of her mind - where they belonged - and tried to help her girl up, which was quite difficult considering she had claws and no opposable thumbs whatsoever. In the end, they managed, but at the cost of a bit of skin from her girl. April said she was fine, but that didn't stop the Absol from trying to bite her nails off when her girl wasn't looking.

Meanwhile, April dusted herself off, scowling to herself. "Jeez, if I'm like this on the way to the freaking _lab_ , I won't even make it halfway to the first badge..." She seemed to remember something and turned towards her, flashing a smile. "Thanks, by the way."

Agatha yipped a quick _"_ You're welcome", before pushing her snout against her to assess the damage.

April smiled at her antics, probably thinking she was just being silly. She'd stopped being embarrassed at such a thing years ago. Instead, she pushed herself closer to her girl, and a nice warm hand stroked her fur before going still.

Her girl sighed. "Was this a mistake, Aggie?" If she'd looked at her, she would have seen her frown. "Be honest with me. Will it be worth it?"

Agatha took a step away from her girl and closed her eyes, focusing solely on her disaster-sense.

 _Righteous anger..._

 _Breathtaking fear..._

 _Unstoppable euphoria..._

 _Awe and...hope..._

She opened her eyes, only to see her girl staring expectantly at her.

"So...?" _Oh, sweet Arceus, she's even biting her lip!_

She raised a paw, conflicted. If she told her about the first batch, she would no doubt be heartbroken. If she said everything would be okay, she'd be lying.

She ended up drawing a plus and a minus together, their symbol for _So, so_. Her girl pursed her lips, a little off-put by the lack of information.

Finally, she shrugged, letting the matter rest for the moment. "I guess it would be kind of unfair to ask you to predict an entire journey, huh?" She smiled, though her heart clearly wasn't in it.

"Let's go."


	4. 3 - April

"Hey, you!"

April turned to look at whoever had called her and saw a kid making his way towards her. He seemed to be around the training age, though she really shouldn't assume. It was probably the shorts...yeah, the shorts. And the weird hat. And pretty much everything else.

"What is it?"

"I challenge you to a battle!" He said, looking very proud of himself, for some reason.

"Uh...are you sure?" She was pretty new to training, but when she met Aggie she was already a level 10 and it had been about three years since then. She didn't want her to overdo it and beat the other kid's team to another goddamned region.

Because she would, the smug little shit. April sighed. She was probably warming up already, wasn't she?

Yes. Yes, she was.

The boy nodded vigorously. A part of her felt sorry for him. The other part shared Agatha's giddy excitement and wanted to kick the kid's ass.

The pitying part decided to try again. "Okay, but are you _really_ sure?"

The kid nodded again, this time a little more forcefully.

 _Well, you asked for it...literally._

"Go, Aggie!"

"Come on out, Torchic!"

She felt like laughing. The poor thing wasn't even evolved yet!

 _This doesn't feel very fair..._ , she thought between the spasms of her barely contained laughter.

April put an arm in front of her Absol, stopping her approach. "Sorry, but no."

She wasn't sure who complained the most, whether Aggie of the boy. The tiny Torchic actually seemed relieved, which was a small mercy.

"Kid, you have a level 5 Torchic." She tried to reason with him.

"He's a level 7." He muttered sulkily.

"Fine. You have a _level 7_ Torchic." She corrected, fierce gaze stuck on the young trainer. Agatha snickered and April turned to scold her. "And you, young lady...! You should know better than to beat up a pokémon who's barely come out of his egg!"

She meant to sound like she was defending them, but apparently that was the wrong thing to say. The damn Torchic actually got _mad_ at her! Between undecipherable bursts of angry tweets, the bird ruffled its feathers, trying to make itself big.

April rolled her eyes. "Look, if you want a battle that badly, I don't mind. I just don't want you to be sad if, for some reason, you happen to lose." She left said reason out, not wanting to rile them up anymore than was necessary.

"W-well, we won't lose, then!" The kid stuttered, eyes shining with what were _probably_ tears. April cringed: she didn't mean to make him cry! Oh, Arceus, why did she have to be so terrible with children?

"Er, okay then...let's battle!" She tried to distract him. It didn't work. Obviously.

Each of his sniffles was like a knife in her heart. She made an effort to mend things and, when her Absol got into the battlefield, she told her to _Perish him._

"H-hey, guess what?" She said as Agatha wailed a 'Perish Song'. "If you beat me, I'll buy you an ice cream!"

The kid brightened up considerably, though there his eyes were still wet. Some paces away, his fire-type tried to tackle her Absol. "Really? Where?"

She blanched. Where the fuck would she get an ice cream? _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

She went with the cryptic answer. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out!" she said, flashing a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial.

"You have no idea, do you?" Damn, he was smart. She readied an apology and a promise to get the boy something else before he told her, with a smile as bright as the sun, "That's okay. I still won!"

"Wait, what?" She looked at the battlefield, and sure enough, Aggie was out cold...as well as his Torchic.

"Well...tied, anyways. But I beat you!" He cheered, an incriminating finger pointing at April. She immediately lowered the appendage.

"Yeah, well, don't get too cocky." She said, though she couldn't keep the smile off her face. She ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Well done, runt.", she praised.

He pushed her hand off his head, excited. "I'm no runt - I kicked your ass!" He was practically beaming with joy.

"Yeah, sure you did." She muttered. He was starting to get annoying.

"You're just jealous!"

April rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, I am positively _brimming_ with jealousy."

"Damn right you are!" He asserted, stomping his feet for good measure.

 _Why did I do this, again?_ April wondered as she kneeled down to give her fainted friend a piece of a revive cake. She passed her hand through her fur as she woke up, whispering a silent _Thank you_. She was licked a _You're welcome_ in return.

Their moment was interrupted by none other than the boy. "E-er, where are you going next?"

I snorted. "Why do you ask? Are you gonna stalk me?" It was her standard question for when she didn't want to answer something personal. Usually, it worked. The person would get flustered -

"N-no, of course not!"

\- and then they'd leave it be. It was great for all parties involved: she wouldn't have to be rude and refuse to answer, and whoever asked wouldn't be mad at her for doing so.

"I was just wondering if we could, like...travel together?"

Of course, that tactic failed if the person was ever-so-slightly persistent. She sighed, before putting on a smile that was obviously fake. "Well, as of now, I'm heading to Littleroot, so-"

"Oh my gosh, me too!" He said. April wondered when he'd start skipping. "I could come with you!"

She tried to find a way to turn the kid down without making him cry again and realized she couldn't, so she shrugged and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "Sure, I guess."

"Thank you!" He seemed so happy to have a traveling companion. It was just her; she wasn't all that special. In fact, he would've probably been better off with another, more experienced, trainer. Just because her pokémon was stronger than his it didn't mean she was a good trainer. It was Aggie who was so great, not her.

"Y...you're welcome." She said, finally.

She looked at her Absol, who she now realized probably should've had a say in this, too. She didn't seem too pleased about it either, she noted, staring at her pursed muzzle and her you-hurt-my-holier-than-thou-feelings pose.

" _Well, what was I supposed to do?"_ April hush-whispered, once again trying and failing to be the voice of reason. Agatha sniffed like the petulant child she was.

And what's the best way to reach children? Bribes, of course!

 _"I'll let you have half of one of my sandwiches."_ She proposed. Her Absol looked her over, considering it, before pawing at the ground with purpose.

 _"Aggie,"_ She warned in an angry whisper _"_ I do _not_ want to have to to restock every freaking hour. Half the sandwich. That's it. No more. _"_

The spoiled brat that was her pokémon turned away and lay down to sleep.

The boy, whom April vaguely admired for putting up with her, spoke up. "Aren't Absols supposed to be nocturnal?"

"Why, yes. Yes, they are." She said. "What's your name, kid?"

"Um...Calvin."

"Well, Calvin, my friend here seems to have forgotten that. Isn't that right, Agatha?" When she got no answer, she turned to the kid. "Do you have a marker or something I could use?"

"What? Oh, er, yeah!" He fumbled with his pockets for a bit before passing her a pen. "Will this do?"

She nodded like she'd seen her mother do when she was about to get revenge and took the object. "Thank you, Calvin."

April held the pen for a moment, contemplating on the best way to do what she needed to. She couldn't bluff, or else Aggie's sense would tell her not to worry, but she didn't want to make too much of a mess since she'd most likely be the one cleaning it up.

At last, she decided to just stick the thing in and be done with it. Her furry friend yelped and she relished the sound before the kid asked her for the pen back.

"Oh, don't worry, Calvin, Aggie will definitely give it back. If she ever manages to get it out of her fur, that is."

"Oh..." He said, in a voice so tiny she actually felt sorry for him.

"Are you gonna need it soon?" She asked. Maybe he needed to write an important letter or something. Even Agatha had stopped trying to shake the pen out, non-existent ears perked up at attention.

"I-I...no, it's just...my grandma gave it to me and stuff..."

"Oh..." Well, shit.

"Do you really think it will take that long?" He fidgeted with his fingers while guilt ate at me.

"N-no, of course not! I was just messing with Aggie here." She tried to ease his worries, placing a hand on her Absol's fur for further emphasis.

"Oh, thank Arceus." Calvin sighed in relief. "Could I get it back now, then?"

April froze. "What?"

"My pen. Can I have it back?"

"..."

"Lady?"

"Sure! Just...not now. Can you wait until we get to Littleroot?" I asked. "I'm sure I'll have some way to get it out by then."

Agatha snorted, before realizing that 'some way' probably involved scissors and that 'getting it out' would mean she'd have to lose fur.

She bolted.


	5. 4 - Aggie

Agatha ran as fast as her legs would go - which was, to tell the truth, quite the impressive speed. She looked frantically around the town she found herself in, trying to find someplace to hide and get the damn pen out of her fur before April got it in her to cut it off.

She was not the best groomer.

To Agatha's immense chagrin, there didn't seem to be any particularly tall patches of grass nearby. Even trees appeared to be non-existent, for some reason.

Aggie was about to give up on her pelt and go back to April when she remembered most humans left the doors to their houses unlocked. She didn't much feel like barging on someone else's place uninvited but, as her girl would say, 'beggars can't be choosers'.

In she went.

* * *

Luckily, there was nobody home, but Agatha didn't want to wait around for somebody to show up and catch her trespassing. She got to work and, in almost no time at all, got sick of biting at her own fur.

Aggie huffed. She would've probably been better off with that half a sandwich.

Rolling over with a bored groan similar to that of a rusty door, she closed her eyes and searched within her sense for any consequences to leaving the house at that moment. When she found none, Agatha got up and stuck her head outside, sniffing around for extra measure. Her snout recoiled as she smelled something unfamiliar, so unlike the saltwater scent of Hoenn. Curious, Aggie put a paw outside, wondering what could've produced such a foreign smell.

Her questions were answered when a bright green vine slapped itself on her muzzle.

" _Eek!_ "

She _might_ have jumped.

Maybe.

Just a little.

Her definitely-not-fear seemed to amuse the offending perpetrator.

"You're funny!" Said the little 'mon.

Aggie looked him over. She'd deduced the hatchling was a male from the scent, though the little one was so young it was hard to tell. He seemed to be covered in scales, from the tip of his snout to the end of his leaf-like tail. His body was mostly green, but his belly and mouth had a more yellow-y tone to them.

It made for a somewhat cute pokémon. She could at least admit that.

Agatha cleared her throat, hoping to get over the fact that she'd gotten scared by a hatchling. "So...what do you want?"

He seemed surprised. "Who? Me?"

"No, _Palkia_. Yes, you!"

"Oh."

 _Well, this is going nowhere,_ she thought, wondering when that awkward mess of a conversation would end.

"Look, I've got places to be right now. Either you tell me or you don't, but make it quick."

The hatchling stared guiltily at the ground, his leaf drooping sadly. "Well, I was playing with Oshawott and I hit him with a vine...but it was an accident!" He said, trying to prove himself.

Why he'd feel the need to do so to a complete stranger Agatha had no idea.

"And it didn't even hit him that hard! I just touched him a little and he went down, but I didn't mean it and _I'm sorry!_ " He shouted, bursting into tears. His vines flailed around him, out of control.

"Oh my Arceus, why are you crying, stop crying - _please don't cry!"_ She was pretty much begging right now.

 _"It was an accident!"_

"I know." She nodded erratically, a smile that looked more like a grimace on her face. "I know, and I forgive you."

" _LIAR!_ "

Aggie started to jump from paw to paw, unsure of what to do. Every path she could think of led to both hers and the tiny pokémon's emotional ruin, except for...

...oh no.

No no no no no.

 _Hadn't her dignity suffered long enough?_

Apparently not.

She sighed, the sound drowned by the hatchling's cries. Ever-so-fed-up with the situation, Agatha did the only seemingly reasonable thing.

She licked him.


	6. 5 - April

They found her in Oldale, curled up next to a tree with what April was pretty sure was a Snivy tucked in-between her pelt. Calvin took up the task of wondering exactly why was there a Snivy nesting on Aggie's fur while April proceeded to coo over the ultimate demonstration of cuteness.

"Do you have a camera?" She asked, whispering as to not wake up the sleeping pokémon. "Please tell me you have a camera."

"I-"

"Nevermind, I'll just use my phone."

April giddily took out the device, touching the 'Photos' icon with eager anticipation. She raised her cellphone up to the adorable pair in front of her to take a picture...

...only to be met with the face of an utterly unamused Absol.

"Oh, come on!" She complained, not letting up the whispering lest she wake up the still-dozing Snivy.

Agatha snickered silently. April had no doubts she was happy to have ruined the experience.

"Can't you just _pretend_ to be asleep?" April pleaded. "You looked so cute together!"

Her pokémon shook her head, defiant.

Maybe she deserved this. The pen thing _had_ been a bit petty.

"Fine." She relented before her brow furrowed in worry. "Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry about the pen."

Aggie shrugged as best as she could with a hatchling on her lap, pointing with her head to what she now realized was Calvin's pen, a few inches away.

So, that problem was solved. "How'd you do it?" She wondered.

A muzzle pointing at the Snivy and the fast whipping of Aggie's tail told April all she needed to know. "Huh. Well, that explains it."

* * *

They stuck around for a little while longer on April's insistence that ' _He looks so peaceful!'_ and ' _He's probably almost up - five minutes tops!'_

In the end, it took half an hour for them to get going. They would most likely have stayed longer if some guy in a lab coat hadn't entered the town searching for a lost Snivy. April supposed the man had been presentable before, perhaps in the morning, but now, with his disheveled hair and stained clothes, he looked anything but.

April sighed. "He's looking for ours, isn't he?"

"Yup." Calvin frowned.

April looked at Agatha, who seemed just as pleased at the prospect of leaving the little guy as she was (which is to say, not at all).

 _Let's get this over with,_ she thought, kneeling over to give Agatha the unavoidable pep-talk. She couldn't help but notice her friend was averting any form of eye-contact. "Look, I like him too," She started, to which Agatha scoffed (as if it was preposterous to simply imply that she cared about the scaly snake), "but if he's got an owner, we can't very well take him from them, can we?"

Her Absol grumbled something akin to a 'whatever'.

 _Good enough for me._

April took the bundle of sleepy loveliness out of her starter's lap and crumbled slightly under the unexpected weight. She got up and made her way to the nervous little man, making sure not to look behind at her traveling companion even though logic dictated the kid couldn't possibly be wise enough to know she'd almost fallen over a pokémon with a weight of fewer than eighteen pounds.

 _Just keep walking, just keep walking..._

 _Oh. There's the guy!_

"Is he yours?" Asked April, hoping against all odds that the Snivy wasn't his.

Of course, she never had any luck when the odds were _with_ her, much less when they were _against_ her, which seemed to be always.

"Why, yes! Yes, he is!" He smiled brightly, looking for all the world as if Delibird Day had come.

April wonders whether he'd be cute if he was her age, before pushing the weird thought away.

"I've been looking for him for ages!" He told her. "Tell me, is there anything I can do for you? After all, you did help me out."

Oh.

Well...she didn't really want to use up the man's favor. The Snivy had come to them, not the opposite. If she accepted, she would feel like she owed the guy.

She hated owing people.

"It's okay, really. It's not that big of a deal..." April tried to wave him off.

It didn't work.

"But I insist!" He said, with a face so determined she knew it would take more willpower than she currently had to bring him down.

"Okay." You conceded. "Um...are you a pokémon professor?"

If you ignored the unidentifiable stains and the messy hair, it sure seemed like it.

The man grinned. "How'd you guess?"

April wasn't sure whether it was a rhetorical question or not, so she shrugged to cover it up. "Do you have any...you know...starters...available? Because I'm starting a journey and I need - _want_ \- a little more fire power." She explained. "I...I mean, it doesn't have to _be_ a fire-type, just, you know...a pokémon..." Her voice lowered to barely a whisper on those last words and she kicked at the ground beneath her feet sheepishly, like asking for a starter was an act of shame.

The professor smiled brightly, either unaware of or ignoring her sudden drop of confidence. "That's wonderful!"

April saw Agatha cock her head in confusion, almost picturing the doubtful ' _It is_?' that was sure to have come from her mouth.

She echoed her starter's question. "Really?"

"Of course!" He nodded, ectatic. "As you must know, pokémon professors are in charge of giving out starters to young - _new_ \- trainers. It just so happens that _this_ little guy -" He said, raising the sleeping Snivy up to her face "- is one of the starters I received as a gift from the Unova lab!"

April cringed when the man mentioned her not-so-young age before her face lit up at the possibility of keeping the Snivy.

"S-so..." She began, making sure that the scaly bundle of cuteness was really theirs and that she wasn't setting herself up for disappointment.

"It's yours!"

April smiled as she mouthed a silent 'Holy shit'.

This was great! Her first day and she'd already gotten a teammate _and_ a starter?

She should probably look into all the ways things would go wrong. It was extremely unlike karma to give her so much, especially after the stunt she'd pulled on Agatha.

Whatever.

"Did you hear that, Aggie? We've got ourselves a new pal!"


End file.
